Australia's last two Labor Prime Ministers, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, were raging personalities: brash, passionate, prone to controversy and somehow embodying national character. I don't think there's much chance of that with the new guy.

Now, after 11 years' indulgence of a small and rather mean man, they've elected a man who looks bland and sounds more so when he opens his mouth. This isn't to say that Kevin Rudd won't be a success. He is just by no stretch of the imagination a shitkicker.

It's no accident that both Hawke and Keating (having apparently settled a 16-year feud) provided what fire there was in the Labor campaign (which also, remarkably, saw the rehabilitation of Gough Whitlam). Both men wrote what can only be regarded as typewritten assassinations of Howard in the last week of the campaign, and Keating was swiftly into print again afterwards with this assessment:

The Liberal Party of John Howard, Philip Ruddock, Alexander Downer and Peter Costello is now a party of privilege and punishments. One that lacks that most basic of wellsprings: charity.

The French philosophers had it pretty right with the Enlightenment catchcry of liberty, equality and fraternity.

There was not much liberty for the boat people or fraternity for the Aborigines or the Muslims or equality for the trade unionists who believed in nothing more revolutionary than the simple right to collectively bargain.

You didn't hear that from Rudd. Indeed, having elected him, Australians still seem keen to find out exactly who he is. But for all his caution, he is committed to bringing Australia back into the international mainstream in ways that, by the standards of the past decade, are radical: Kyoto will be ratified, and the combat troops will be brought back from Iraq.

Rudd's centrist, even conservative, image, and his Christian belief have inevitably led to comparisons with Tony Blair. These seem terribly wide of the mark. Blair's core compulsion was to do what he knew in his heart to be right -- which, of course, allowed him to preside over much that was morally wrong -- and to sell it with rhetoric born of conviction. Blair trampled diplomats, Rudd is one by training.

There will be debate about exactly what lessons can be taken into New Zealand's election campaign next year, but there is no doubt about one thing: the internet will be important. Kevin Rudd, famously, has 20,000 friends on Facebook, and his Kevin07 website was a masterpiece of online momentum-building. The campaign ads that ran on Australian news websites were numerous and increasingly biting.

As the Electoral Finance Bill caps third-party campaign spending in particular, internet advertising will look both smarter and more cost-effective. The full-page newspaper ad your lobby group buys is tomorrow's fish-and-chip wrapper -- but the same money could buy you a pervasive campaign online. Just watch.

Anyway, the funniest thing on my Facebook newsfeed morning is this:

David Farrar left the group 'People who support Prime Minister John Howard'.

140 responses to this post

Yeah but Russell you must remember that Rudd's appointment - as relatively colourless as he is - as Labor leader is a reaction to the previous larger than life personalities Simon Crean and Mark Latham (he of the infamous 'conga line of suckholes' quote). They lined up like roadkill to John Howard.

The ineffectual Kim Beazley notwithstanding, after what the party has been through over the past 11 years, a candidate who appealed to the prevailing conservative nature of the Australian electorate with the qualities of being calm and undemonstrative was always going to be a winner.

Also the party badly needed Rudd to unify its squabbling factions which he appears to have done successfully - for now anyway. Plus he speaks fluent Mandarin. Now won't that come in useful in building a relationship with an emerging superpower.

Another feature of the new government will be the performance of of the deputy leader Julia Gillard. Isn't it great to see a woman close to the apex of federal leadershp in Australia? I think it may even be a first. They've had women state leaders but not in federal politics as far as I know.

Also interesting is the bogus Muslim pamphlets and Liberal MP Jackie Kelly's reluctance to condemn the actions of those close to her in printing and delivering them is one of the reasons being talked about for the larger than expected swing against Howard in his Bennelong electorate. Fascinating.

Here's a little bit of Home And Away as reported in the Sydney MH today:

A broken home in a broken party

THE Liberal Party is in the doghouse - and so is the husband of the defeated Liberal Party candidate Karen Chijoff.

Days after Greg Chijoff was caught red-handed by Labor Party officials distributing a fake Muslim flyer in the marginal seat of Lindsay, delivering a death blow to his wife's chances of retaining it for the Liberals, a stoney Mrs Chijoff revealed she had not spoken to her husband since the controversy erupted and had kicked him out of the house.

I was going to stop posting but I have to include this fabulous quote from same story:

"I vomited when I found out," said a 16-year Liberal member, Wendy Anderson. "It was just such an incredibly stupid and unthinkable thing to do, and the fact that Jackie's husband was involved has really gutted us."

Another feature of the new government will be the performance of of the deputy leader Julia Gillard. Isn't it great to see a woman close to the apex of federal leadershp in Australia?

Don't know about you, Charles, but you'd think this is one country where folks with vaginas in high public positions have lost their novelty value.

Anyway, the most interesting post-election item is that Rudd is not letting the caucus have any say whatsoever in choosing the front bench. Now, that's definitely Bliar-ite, and only time will tell whether it ultimately has the same outcome.

It's no accident that both Howard and Keating (having apparently settled a 16-year feud) provided what fire there was in the Labor campaign (which also, remarkably, saw the rehabilitation of Gough Whitlam). Both men wrote what can only be regarded as typewritten assassinations of Howard in the last week of the campaign, and Keating was swiftly into print again afterwards with this assessment

Of course it's no accident. If there had been any signs of a backlash - and even by the standards of Ocker punditry, Whitlam and Keating made Mike Moore look lovestruck - then Rudd could neatly disassociate himself. But you've really got to wonder what Rudd really believes in, and how he's going to handle doing anything that can't be smoothed over with bland bormides and might actually be unpopular. I'd also have to say the media coverage was deeply unimpressive, when it came to sceptical analysis of the eye-watering amounts of pork both Labour and the Coalition were throwing around, and policy that (when it existed at all) was written on the back of a press release.

Sorry, Russell, but anyone who would describe either the Coalition or Labour as fiscally conservative is just not speaking any reality-based language I'm familiar with.

Sorry, Russell, but anyone who would describe either the Coalition or Labour as fiscally conservative is just not speaking any reality-based language I'm familiar with.

Quite. I guess it helps when you're awash in mining money the way Australia is. I think I read one column pointing out that both parties' promises threatened to aggravate an inflationary cycle, but it didn't seem to be a big issue over there.

Another feature of the new government will be the performance of of the deputy leader Julia Gillard. Isn't it great to see a woman close to the apex of federal leadershp in Australia? I think it may even be a first. They've had women state leaders but not in federal politics as far as I know.

And predictably we saw the same sort of nasty misogynist smears directed at her that some still direct at female politicians over here. Unfortunately there are knuckle-draggers on both sides of the Tasman who have yet to enter the Century of the Fruitbat, let alone that of the Anchovy.

I watched Rudd on Rove on Friday night in anticipation of the election. I thought his calmness and composure was perfect for the occasion, and Rove gave him a fair amount of stick. He remained thoughtful and on-message and at times was vaguely funny which is about the best that could be hoped for on the night.

And predictably we saw the same sort of nasty misogynist smears directed at her that some still direct at female politicians over here.

And interesting see Gillard herself very carefully not playing the 'gender card' - which is very smart, consider that the presumptive next President of the United States is raising hackles by having her proxies dismiss any hard questions about her performance, voting record or actual policy as sexism. As I said, Idiot/Savant, I think reasonable people in this country don't regard women in politics as some delightful novelty. Dare I say it, perhaps we even take women seriously enough to judge them on their performance rather than their gender?

Quite. I guess it helps when you're awash in mining money the way Australia is.

Yeah, but you'd think a media that were actually doing their fraking jobs would test someone who was saying on the one hand the mining boom wouldn't last forever (which is a statement of the blindingly obvious, IMO) while spraying the pork around like a woodchipper in a piggery.

ALP sources suggest the expatriate vote from London and Hong Kong is likely to strongly favour her, since the McKew campaign succeeded in targeting the large group of voters in the electorate of Chinese and Korean backgrounds - who have traditionally favoured Mr Howard - to pull off the big swing in the seat.

I watched Rudd on Rove on Friday night in anticipation of the election. I thought his calmness and composure was perfect for the occasion, and Rove gave him a fair amount of stick

Meh... that's akin to saying Larry King asks difficult questions... like whether you can remember the title of the book/movie/CD you're shilling. :) Rove is great fun, but let's not pretend its probing current affairs journalism. And considering how heavily control freaked both Rudd and Howard were, I doubt Kev would have done Rove if it was. It is really strange how feral, yet curiously lightweight, Australian campaigns and political media (for the most part) really are.

Craig - yeah, the stick was definitely humorous/demeaning rather than hard-hitting/journalistic. But then Rove is comedy/entertainment. I haven't detected any pretensions to serious current affairs.

Come to think of it, the script for the whole episode was significantly above the usual offering from Rove and the crew (which often elicits a "meh" in our household). Perhaps they wanted to end their season with a bang. If so, mission accomplished.

I think there’s something a bit sad about what’s happened in Australian politics.

There has always been something colourful about them. Having a prime minister being picked up by a Chinese submarine started my fascination with them, followed in the next decade by the drama of the Whitlam sacking (“Malcolm Fraser is the cutlery man. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he’s been knifing people in the back ever since”)

Then onto Fraser himself; a term highlighted by his palpable contempt of Muldoon and the line “Life was never meant to be easy”.

Hawke, the lovable rogue, the staggeringly arrogant Keating, and their feud was great to watch.

But then what’s happened? A phenomenally bland Howard whose only point of interest was his mean-spirited cynicism, and now this bland smirking evangelistic who I note has an identical haircut to John Key.

As I said, Idiot/Savant, I think reasonable people in this country don't regard women in politics as some delightful novelty. Dare I say it, perhaps we even take women seriously enough to judge them on their performance rather than their gender?

Over here, yes. But looking at Australia, they're quite a way behind us. What a difference a couple of women Prime Ministers makes.

That is such a tough issue. If you take in boat people on humanitarian grounds then you just encourage more people to spend their life savings (or more ie debt) on a seat in some shonky boat run by people smugglers who don't really care if the boat makes it or not. Australian soil is only a boat ride away from Indonesia.

And yet we all agree that one shouldn't pay the kidnappers ransom because that only encourages more kidnappings.